Category: Die Cutting

I am So excited to tell you that Trinity Stamps has finally released another fabulous line of Stamps, Dies, and LOTS of embellishments. There are also lots of new shop items added (plus more coming this week!).

If you don’t already know, we started the new release off with a blog hop on Friday and the fun is still happening! If you are coming to my blog for the first time be sure to click the links at the bottom of my post to go through both days of blog hop inspiration. Don’t forget to comment along the way because, friends…. there is prizes, FIVE of them. All of them are worth at least $25 (and some a lot more) Winner will be announced HERE on November 10th!

So I started coloring the wizard’s head from Magical Wizards, and then one of the robes from wizard friends. I did some simple copic coloring and because I didn’t want white showing around my image, I opted to fussy cut instead of die cut. I cut the body off except for a piece that will glue behind the robe. I attached the two pieces with my Nuvo Smooth Precision glue and voila! Wizard is (almost) card ready!

I had made a green background by blending some various shades of Distress Oxide ink and then to make a floor to ground our character, I blended some ink into cardstock then ran it through a WRMK woodgrain embossing folder. I tried doing this with markers and drawing the floor in but it was taking away from my wizard scene too much so this was a much more subtle option.

I put some foam tape on the back of the wizard and set him and the floor piece aside.

Then came the embossing. I took several colors of WOW embossing and embossed all of the star, sparkle, and shine images from all three sets (Magical Wizards, Wizard Friends, and Magical Sentiments). As I was making my way through the swirl of stars and swooshes, I die cut different sizes of hearts from the Castle Builder die set.

once all the stamping and embossing was done, I took a damp rag and went along the stary magic trail and gave it even more texture. There were a few spots that still needed something so I took my embossing pen and added some dots here and there.

I added a sentiment from Caffeinated Sentiments, one of my personal fave… it was so appropriate given the fact a gift card was going inside.

I added a little Midas Touch Aqua Shimmer pen by Nuvo to the red part of the robe the wizard is wearing and I even embossed his wand gold.

Such a fun card right. I made the card 3×6 to fit these gold envelops I picked up at my local stamping store. I like the fun size, a nice change from the A-2 cards I usually make… But wait, there’s MORE!

Remember about that gift card I was telling you about? Bam! you’re magical! how perfect is THAT! I did a little stamp surgery so that I could make the sentiment ” Coffee and friends make a magical blend) In the Caffeinated sentiments, there is one that says Coffee & Friends make the perfect blend. All I had to do was snip off the make and the blend.

I stamped the first part directly to the card and the make a & Blend was stamped on a strip of white cardstock and then cut. I die cut the two layers of the magical sentiment die set (you can also use the stamp set to stamp in that shadow layer die) I glued those pieces to a very simple gold glitter pocket I made to hold the card.

Starbucks usually has fun seasonal and celebratory gift cards and so does a lot of other places, especially this year. How much fun is it to receive a gift inside a handmade card (which is a gift also!) Now is a great time to make a few of these types of cards to have on hand when you need to gift a card to someone.

I hope you enjoyed my little card today AND this awesome blog hop! These girls blow me away with their talent and I couldn’t be more excited to work with them all!

I am the last stop on the hop today BUT if you haven’t stopped by every blog on the hop today I have included a list below. Don’t forget those Monday Blog Hop stops either, more chances to win, more inspiration to be had!

Trinity Stamps blog post can be found HERE and the winner announcement will be posted HERE on November 10th!

Thank you for stopping by today! When you comment below I would love to know what you thought of our blog hop AND as an added bonus for making it this far, I have a $15 Trinity Stamps Gift certificate especially for one of YOU! YAY, MORE PRIZES! So come on and say HI, I know I haven’t blogged in FOR EVER, but now that you see all our great stamps you know why 🙂

Today all of the designers are participating in a fun blog hop with their take on the first Kat Scrappiness Mood Board Challenge! There will be lots of prizes to be won and several chances to win. Make sure you comment on all the designers blog posts today for several chances to win and then make a card (or any project) inspired from our mood board and link up to the Kat Scrappiness blog before Monday October 9th for a chance at winning one of several prizes! Winners will be announced on that blog post Tuesday October 10th by Noon PST. Don’t forget you can get 15% off in the KatScrappiness.com shop today only! Use Code “IMAKECARDS” at checkout!

Here is the Mood Board that is apart of the challenge and what has inspired my project today!

I added some Distress oxide ink for added dimension as well as some eyebrows with a black marker. I also darkened the center of the eyes with a black glitter pen. Then I pieced everything together for the little owl.

I hope you have been inspired by my little owl card today! Below is the list of all the designers participating in the blog hop, Make sure you stop by and see what project(s) they have to inspire you today!

Happy first day of October! It’s time for cozy sweaters and all things Pumpkin…. but also it is time for breast cancer awareness.

As you may have seen before, Ellen Hutson has an exclusive Courage stamp and die set that helps in the fundraising efforts to find a cure for breast cancer. Aside from the stamp set being absolutely beautiful, $25 of every stamp/die set combo purchased gets donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. If you don’t already have this gorgeous set I encourage you to get one before they are gone for good.

(affiliate links used where available at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting my blog)

Today the Ellen Hutson design team and friends are gathering together as a little surprise for the wonderful women who have committed so much time and effort into this stamp and die set and who have personally been affected by this horrible disease. I am honored to be among some of the most talented designers in today’s blog hop. If you have missed any of their post you can find the blog hop list at the bottom of this post Or start from the beginning at the Ellen Hutson Classroom.

I Stamped various flowers from both stamp sets using different colors of Distress Oxide inks. Then I misted the entire panel with water and let dry. I repeated this about 4 times with different layers. Once the florals were done I added a bit of texture with a script stamp from Penny Black.

I stamped the Courage sentiment from the stamp set in versafine onyx black ink and once dry I misted the card with sheer shimmer spray which you can sort of see in the photo but in person, it’s just the right amount of shimmer. I added some sparkling clear sequins and then mounted on a piece of pink cardstock then to my white card base. This card was inspired by a video I watched by Julie Ebersol using the Courage stamp set. you can see that Video HERE.

I cut the rose panel out of some shiny shimmery pink cardstock and mounted that on a piece of dark pink cardstock. I took the ribbon die and cut that out of some DCWV pink glitter paper and attached that to the rose panel with some foam tape.

For the vellum sentiment strip I used some Essentials by Ellen heavyweight vellum and stamped the sentiment with versafine Onyx black ink. I sprinkled some clear embossing powder on top and heat set. The torn vellum strip is folded and glued down on the back side of the card base. Once completed I added the panel to a white card base.

I hope you enjoyed my cards for today and got plenty of inspiration from everyone participating in the blog hop! For a closer look at the Courage stamp set, click HERE to take you to the Ellen Hutson store.

I am the last stop on the Hop for Hope but if you missed anyone you can see the full list of participants below.

If you are already swimming along, then you should have arrived here from the blog of the kind and beautiful, Patricia! If not, don’t worry, you can always go to the Honey Bee Stamps blog<— and see all of the amazingly talented designers that are inspiring you today.

Limited quantities of the NEW July Under the Sea Stamp bundles are available. click the photo or see the end of the post for links.

Everything is available for purchase today in our shop HERE.
So let’s Shellabrate with some splashingly sweet prizes!! We will have TWO winners that will each receive a $50 gift certificate to purchase new goodies in the Honey Bee Stamps Store.

Enter to win one of two $50 shopping sprees to HoneyBeeStamps.com for participating in our new release Blog Hop!

All you have to do to win is comment here on the Honey Bee Stamps blog and again at each one of our designer’s blog by Sunday, July 16th. Winners will be announced on Monday, July 17th at Noon PST.

So swim along and get ready to SEA some inspiration!

Affiliate links used where available at NO cost to you, Thank you so very much for your support!

I cut the card in half at the score line and started assembling the two pieces with a double layer of foam tape. Once that was finished I added some of the new Seaside Treasures shaker kit as well as some glitter and sequins from various new embellishment kits. I covered the shaker with a piece of acetate and then again covered that up with the card panel. I took that vinyl detail piece (which already has adhesive on the back) and stuck it in the opening of the panel on top of the acetate. I put more foam tape around the Seashell shaker to cover the top panel and then glued all of that on an off white mat base, and then to a heavy weight beige cardstock card base.

I am in love with this die and it can do a lot more than just a shaker card. It can be a stand alone card or used within a traditional card like my example. There is a lot of possibilities with this die and I am sure you will be seeing a lot of great ideas using this card die in the near future!

This is the card (closed) with two pieces layered on top . Just one of the options that you can create with this die set!

Here are the main die pieces of the Seashell card Die set. There are two small circle dies that are not pictured below that are great for making a pearl to go inside your shell!

I cut out the cover plate die in two shades of yellow cardstock and glued the pieces of the other color inside the cut panel. This will make two cards, so it’s a great timesaver too! I took the border stamp in the ocean borders and I stamped, heat embossed in clear and then masked the first border stamp at the bottom of some light blue cardstock, I repeated this process of stamping, embossing, then masking about 5 times. Once I had a about a half of a card panel worth of ocean borders I took the Ocean Borders Die that just cuts the top of that wave-like border and I cut the top of that masked border stack. I glued some foam behind that piece and set aside.

I stacked a couple of pieces of cardstock and glued those together, Then I cut that stacked cardstock piece with the Mermaid die from the Swimming by die set. I used the same die and with just using the bottom half of that die I cut some Cricut holographic Opal vinyl. I stuck that to the cardstock piece and cut off everything below the tail, I glued just the bottom portion of that tail to the card base just below the circle part of the sun, I then glued the waves on top of that, which completed the scene. I finished the card off by adding some new Bubbles Sequins and Bokeh lights confetti and a sentiment from the Mermaid song stamp set. I heat embossed that with the Nuvo white power and cut a little flag end to the left. I popped this up on foam tape and glued to my card. I really love how that Vinyl is shiny and iridescent like… perfect for under the sea and beach papercrafting!

My name is Taniesa and I am addicted to coffee. I am also addicted to papercrafting so how perfect is this challenge, right?! What Challenge you might ask? Why, it’s that time again, The Summer Coffee Lover’s blog hop! Projects, Prizes, and SO MUCH inspiration!!

Affiliate Links used at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting this blog!

Have you ever spilled your coffee when you’re walking out of Starbuck’s or tripped on a Lego in the am and your mug went flying? It sure starts the day off in a super crummy way. This is a great card for someone who has had that kinda day or just needs to know that you are there for them and you “got their back”. Both cards feature products from Honey Bee Stamps. There are source links in my post but you will also find a supply list at the end of the post.

So I started by drawing a floor. I drew a line where I knew I wanted the edge of the floor to be and then I drew in the vertical lines at an angle to give a perspective view. After I had that penciled in I stamped the bunny from Honey Bee Stamps Blah Bunny stamp set, I masked that part and stamped the little rug that goes underneath him. Before I got to the coloring of the bunny and rug, I colored the floor with Pumice Stone Distress Ink. I made sure to make the back and sides of the floor portion darker so that it highlighted the bunny in the center I added little nails with a copic marker (N6 + N0) The bunny and the rug are both colored using Copic Markers. For the rug I used YG67, YG63, YG61 and for the outside edge I used G28. For the Bunny I used E31, E33, E34, E35, and E37. I also used R20 and R21 for his ears, noses, and the bottom of the feet.

I attached the gift card with these removable Glue Dots. This is such a great way to stick gift cards and other removable things to your cards and gifts, It holds well until you want to pull it off, and the best part is the glue dot comes off your project cleanly too!

I have another card to share today too!

This card is super simple and easy to make. Here is the front of the card:

and here is the inside

Simple but Cute right? Such a fun way to give a coffee to a friend who needs a little pick-me-up. One thing I love *Almost* as much as coffee is gifting starbucks gift cards so I always have a small stash of gift cards on hand in case I need to give a last minute gift or Happy Mail to someone needing a smile.

I placed that square on a scrap of black cardstock and adhered the matted square to the card base with foam tape. I blended a little Vintage Photo Distress Oxide ink around the edges and then finished off the front with a few gold sequins.

For the inside of the card I did the same thing as the cacti but I stamped a coffee mug. This coffee mug I bought at one of my Local Scrapbook stores, Impress Cards and Crafts. If you ever are in Seattle this shop needs to be on your “To-Visit” List! It’s a stamper’s candy store! I stamped the Stay Strong from Honey Bee Stamps Prickly Sentiments stamp set. I drew in the little circle to make it sorta “Starbucks-ish” and colored the inside of that green, and then I shaded the cup with some Cool Grey copic markers and the sleeve with some warm grey markers.

So that wraps up my projects for this year’s Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop. In addition to all the great prizes you can win by participating in the Coffee Lovers hop, I also decided to do a fun giveaway both here on my blog, and next week on Instagram! All you need to do to be entered in this giveaway here on my blog is comment below. For the second giveaway that will be going on next week, follow @Taniesa on Instagram.

Hurry, contest ends June 30th! This giveaway includes TWO stamp sets , a exclusive Free-Bee and matching die, and a bottle of Nuvo drops all donated by Honey Bee Stamps! The other items include a Hero arts INtense black ink pad, a set of watercolor pencils, a 3×4 etched grid stamp block, Crate paper embellishment pack, Bazzill Marathon adhesive runner, and a set of watercolor pencils are all items I have purchased for this giveaway. A prize package worth $80.00!!!

Honey Bee Stamps has graciously donated the Blah Bunny Stamp set, The Blah Blah Blah Sentiments stamp set, Free Bee stamp and die, and Nuvo drops. Thank you Honey Bee Stamps! I have also put in things I have purchase for this giveaway and in total the package is worth over $80! Enter by 6/30. Winners to be announced on Saturday, July 1 at noon PST.

*** Karen Ladd !!!! You are my winner! Please email me at Taniesa@thecraftypickle.com with your mailing information. Thank you to all that entered and for the kind comments! ***

Head on over to the Honey Bee Stamps Blog where there are even more prizes to be won AND there is a link to Honey Bee Stamps Designer, Lisa where you can win another prize!

Thank you so much for visiting. You will find the supplies I have used linked in the post but also listed below. I encourage you to modify these ideas and use your crafty stash as well!

We have enlisted some very talented designers to help Surprise Melissa (the owner of Honey Bee Stamps) for her 2nd Honey Bee Stamps Birthday. Be sure to hop along for all the fun & prizes!! Each stop on the hop will have a drawing for a FREE stamp set of their choice from the Honey Bee Stamps store. Be sure to comment at each stop to enter all of the drawings. The winners will be announced on the Honey Bee Stamps Blog on May 3rd at Noon PST.

I have to say this month’s new release is my favorite so far. I sat down to make one card and ended up making a few more. I’m telling ya, my mind was buzzing with ideas for these new products.

I love that the stencils make shading the hive super easy. I used my distress inks and finger daubers to do the shading. the inside of the shaker has the new layered hexagon die cover plates cut apart, and I used Nuvo Drops to add Honey like accents. I filled the shaker with the special birthday Honey Jar sequins mix and of course that cute little busy bee!

Next card is another hive, but this time I used only the stencils. All 4 of them actually. I used the hive cut out to lay down color, the two shading stencils to give detail, and then when I was all done with that I used the hive cut out piece as a mask and applied the blue distress ink background.

The leaves are from the Busy bees stamp set. I just made a branch with a zig clean color real brush brown marker. The hexagon confetti / sequins is in the spring sequins pack. The cute little bee is from the Build a Bee stamp set. The bee is actually on a little action wobbler and, with the addition of the google eyes, it makes for a very fun interactive element.

This next card was totally inspired by a pack of acrylic mirrored hexagons I have been hoarding. You could achieve a similar look with mirror cardstock that I used as an accent strip along the side of the card.

I colored my little build a bee with my zig markers and added some hexagons that I cut out using the new stack hexagon dies. I also added those awesome hexagon mirrors. I think the patterned paper along the side added the perfect final touch. I love this sentiment from the Bee You Tiful sentiment set. I think it’s the perfect card to remind someone how bee-you-tiful they are, inside and out.

Okay, now a super quick card that is great for any of our new buzz words…

This card was super quick to make! I had a piece of cardstock that was already stamped and embossed using the Zen Bouquet stamp set. I trimmed it down to A-2 size and used the new Hello Buzz word dies to do a fun inlay look. This could work with your favorite patterned paper too.

You can keep it simple and leave it just black and white, Or you could color it in to make the word stand out even more! The main panel was cut using the Honey Bee Stamps Double stitched A-2 dies.

These next cards were so much fun to make. I did one card with Color burst watercolor powers and the other with distress oxide inks.

I couldn’t decide which I liked better so I thought I would show you both!

Last but not least is my first real attempt at no line coloring. I took the jar from the sweet as honey stamp and die set (which was a part of Honey Bee Stamps very first release, and one of my most used stamp sets!) and I decided to turn it into a mini Terrarium with the help of the new stick with me stamp set.

I colored the cacti, plants, and rocks with my Copic markers and then added a bit more detail with my colored pencils. For the background I used the hexagon stipple plate die. On the little banner, I used a sentiment from the prickly sentiments stamp set.

The jar is layered with 4 pieces of cardstock instead of using foam, (I had scrap paper I needed to use up). The sentiment is popped up with one layer of foam tape. I finished the card off with a bit of twine around the top of the jar. This was probably my most challenging card but I had a lot of fun. I will be practicing those no line coloring skills more often now!

Here is a photo of all the cards created today. Supplies are listed below.

I hope I inspired you with ways to use these awesome new products (and some of your older ones too). Come back soon BEE-cause I will have lots more projects to share!

Don’t forget to leave a comment for your chance to win your choice of stamp set from Honey Bee Stamps!

Next up on the Hop is the kind & talented, Yana Smakula! Buzz on over and see what beautiful creation she has to share with you today.

We had some leftover gift boxes from Valentine’s day that we purchased at Michael’s (they have several colors in the gift wrapping section) so instead of making a handmade card, I decided to do a (semi) handmade gift box, similar to the one I created above.

In addition to the pink gift box I also grabbed some basket filler shred, and the gift card. (later on we decided to add some candy)

First I chose a selection of patterned papers from Doodlebug. I used this 6×6 paper pad, and I pulled out a selection of colors that I thought would go well together. I die cut several of the traditional shape balloon from the Surprise box die set and then stamped all of the balloons using a shade of ink that matched the pattern paper used.

After the die cutting and stamping was all finished. I took some finger daubers and added a little of the same ink I stamped with to the edges of the balloon. It’s a simple step but it adds some dimension to your die cuts and a bit of pop to the overall design. I also took a white water-based sharpie marker and added a little shine mark to the balloons.

I stamped and cut out the truck and gifts from the Little Pickup stamp and die set and colored them in with my copic markers. I also added a little clear glaze gel pen to the windshield and window.

I arranged all of the balloons on the box, popping some of them on foam tape and a couple I added two layers of foam tape to get a varying amount of heights to the balloons. Using a black glaze gel pen I added the balloon strings. Then I added the truck with the gifts in the back to the box, also with foam tape.

There is a great sentiment set that coordinates with the little pickup stamp set called Sending You sentiments. I love that set but the words “sending you” were smaller and didn’t seem to fit well for my box. I grabbed the brand new Welcome Baby stamp set because it also includes the words “special delivery” in a great font. I curved the words slightly and I stamped those out with black versamark ink. I sprinkled on some clear embossing powder with glitter and heat set. I cut around both words and glued those to the handle of my box.

I think this will be fun for my daughter to gift to her best friend (we are also going to tie a few balloons to the handle before gifting) and I hope that the recipient loves it as much as I loved making it for her.

I hope you got a little inspiration for your gift-giving today. Thank you so much for stopping by!

Today I am over at the Honey Bee Stamps blog, Kicking off the sneak peeks for new release week.

This new release is so much fun! Today we’re showing a sneak from two stamp and die sets, Celebration Box and Hooray! These might just be my new all time Honey bee stamp Faves!

Take a look at two cards that I made using some of the new stamps and dies.

First up is a Congratulations card.

My second card for today would be great for a birthday or any kind of celebration

I will be back soon with even more Honey Bee Stamps inspiration using the new products! Be sure to stop by www.honeybeestamps.com/blog all this week to see more sneaks. The entire release will be available for purchase THIS FRIDAY!

Did you know that today is “Send a Card to a Friend Day”? I didn’t even know it was a thing, but there is a holiday and occasion for just about anything now days and this is one I can completely get behind. I don’t know about my fellow card makers out there but I am horrible about actually getting my cards in the mail and in the mail on time. Today is the perfect push to grab some cards and send them to your friends… Just BEE-cause!

So I had a general idea of the card design in my head and I knew I wanted a striped border at the bottom of my card. Problem was I didn’t have a background stamp or border stamp that was a stripe. So I got a little creative and pulled the little label stamp from the Camera Love stamp set and with the help of my Misti, I made my own border using versafine onyx black ink.

Next I pulled a piece of text like patterned paper that I had in my scrap pile and stamped this large flower from the Zen Bouquet stamp set with the same versafine onyx black ink in a random pattern.

I colored the flowers and leaves with these chalk pastel pencils that I have been playing around with. These are from Stabilo and they are called CarbOthello. They really are great for adding color and shading die cuts! I simply scribbled on the color, super easy and quick!

After I was done scribbling in that color, I just smudged the color around with a Fantastix blending tool. You can use a qtip, makeup applicator, or even just your finger is fine.

I wasn’t careful about staying in the lines. In fact I like the glow like effect when I didn’t stay in the lines.

After all the coloring was done I lightly misted my paper with a fixative as you see above. If you don’t have a fixative like this you could use something as simple as hairspray.

I trimmed the floral panel to size and glued it to a piece of yellow cardstock that was slightly longer than my floral panel. I added a thin piece of glossy black cardstock as an accent piece. From that same glossy black cardstock I die cut the word “wonderful” and set aside. I stamped and die cut the “you are loved” stamp from the “beautiful life” stamp set out of yellow cardstock and black foam. I cut away the word “loved” and replaced with “Wonderful” instead.

Time to put it all together. I put a piece of foam behind the floral panel and then adhered that to the white striped edge cardstock panel which was cut to 5 1/2 x 4 1/4. I glued down the wonderful so that it hung off the edge of the top panel just a bit and then glued the foam backed “you are” piece above the main sentiment.

Once all that was done I placed the completed panel on a A-2 size card base. I think this is a great card to send for any occasion but especially to a friend, just because, to let them know you are thinking of them.

I hope that you are encouraged to brighten someone’s day with a little happy mail today!

Listed below are the supplies I used today. Affiliate links are used where available (at NO cost to you, they help me with the cost of running my blog and I am so thankful for your support!)

If December is the month to send out Christmas Cards than January has to be the month to send out lots of Thank you cards! Today I have a card that turns a cute little honey jar into a snow globe!

One of my most favorite and most used stamps is the Honey Bee Stamps “Sweet as Honey” stamp set. I especially love using the honey jar for lots of things like a vase, and today, as a snow globe by just turning it upside down.

I started by stamping the jar on white cardstock using a light blue ink. This was mostly so I knew where to put my little scene. I used a cute little house and tree die cut from the Essentials by Ellen and colored the windows and tree as well as a little heart with copic markers. Then I cut out the Thanks word from the Honey Bee Stamps Thanks and giving die set.

After my little house and tree were glued down I applied a coat of white Neon Abilify. This stuff is so fun for snow. I let the first coat dry and then dotted on a bit more for a layered effect. I also dotted on some of the paint to the top of the thanks die cut to look like it was dusted with snow. After all was dry I used my heat gun to puff it all up. I love the dimension it adds.

On the same color grey cardstock as I cut out the THANKS sentiment I cut a small strip and stamped Snow and Much from the Honey Bee Stamps Flakey Sentiments stamp set. I then heat embossed it using bright white embossing powder. I added the ! in with a white gel pen.

The cute jar topper was stamped using Versafine Onyx black ink on some Lawn Fawn Perfectly Plaid winter paper and cut out using the coordinating die. I added a bit of May Arts natural twine.

For my card base I took a piece of white cardstock and blended a gradient blue from light to dark using distress ink. I ran the dried piece of cardstock through my big shot with a small dot embossing folder. I cut out a piece of the same blue and gray plaid patterned paper using a stitched 4 bar card die and adhered that piece to a white 4 bar card.

I cut out the jar upside down from the blue panel where I wanted the snow globe to be visible and then covered the (backside) opening with some snowfall acetate I got at my local craft store (Urban Scrapbooker). I covered the back of that panel with foam tape and lined the opening with my snow globe “insides” that i cut down.

I placed the main piece on top of the covered card base and then glued on the sentiment and sentiment strip on top using matte medium. I finished it off by lightly coating the die cut and sentiment strip with my Spectrum Noir clear glitter pen.

That’s it for my card today. I hope you were inspired to use your own stamps in a unique unexpected way!

All supplies used today are listed below (Affiliate links where available)